Niu Takes Hard Line In Student Scheme

Some Contend Penalty Is Too Harsh

April 24, 1988|By Andrew Bagnato.

A Northern Illinois University senior admits he broke school rules by using a stolen registration stamp to place himself in a class that already was filled, but he says he questions the penalty he will have to pay: a graduation that will be delayed by up to a year and the loss of a $25,000-a-year marketing job.

But the plight of Robert, who asked that his last name not be printed, and other graduating seniors is drawing little sympathy from the

administration of the De Kalb school, which is proceeding with plans to withhold credit for students who cheated to enter required classes in disciplines such as economics, sociology, psychology and pre-business.

``What can I say?`` asked Kendall Baker, NIU vice president and provost, in an interview last week. ``We are certainly not in the business of trying to upset our students` plans or wreck their careers or mess up their lives. . . . But we do feel very strongly that we have to uphold our academic standards.``

Robert, like most of the other students who university officials allege committed registration fraud, probably will not receive credit for the course and also will lose the tuition he paid to take it. That will delay his graduation until December at the earliest, and he may have to wait until May, 1989. In addition, he will lose the marketing job that was contingent upon his graduation next month.

``This will seriously affect a lot of people`s futures,`` he said. ``I don`t know how I would be able to explain to future employers how I had to spend an extra year here.``

NIU officials say students have exaggerated claims that hundreds of students are involved and that many of them are seniors in jeopardy of losing job offers.

Student leaders have said that more than 300 students, and perhaps as many as 1,000, were involved in the fraud. The campus has 25,000 students, including about 17,000 undergraduates.

But a nearly completed university investigation has identified only 109 students, and only 9 graduating seniors, according to Donald R. Larson, associate director of registration and records.

At the same time, administrators concede the episode-no matter what the figures-presents a credibility problem because it raises questions about the school`s ability to provide sufficient courses to allow students to graduate in four years.

Students say the cheaters were pushed to desperate measures either because they were seniors needing a specific class to graduate or because they were underclassmen needing prerequisites that would allow them to enroll in upper-division courses next fall.

Northern Illinois, like many state-supported colleges and universities, has scaled back the number of course offerings in many areas because of tight finances.

``There is no question that resources are tight and that universities are having to take measures such as closing admissions and courses because they simply don`t have the resources to provide all students under all

circumstances the courses they need,`` said Robert A. Wallhaus, deputy director of academic affairs for the Illinois Board of Higher Education. But he also said the situation doesn`t justify circumventing the registration process.

The professor who discovered the fraud said the seniors involved were driven more by laziness than desperation.

``A graduating senior pretty much gets what he or she wants,`` said Arthur P. Doederlein, director of undergraduate studies for the communication studies department. ``In many cases it was just arrogance-too nice a day to stand in line.``

About the only thing students and officials agree on is that the scheme was carried out in January, when thousands of NIU students go through late registration to try to fill holes in their schedules left over from mail registration. The most popular courses generally have long lines and often are filled before all students who want to take them are admitted.

When a student is admitted, his name is written in a class log and his registration card is stamped. Before leaving the hall, the student turns in the card to a checkout clerk and officially is placed in the class.

Students who got their hands on a rubber ``REG`` stamp were able to bypass the lines by marking their own registration cards and presenting them to the checkout clerk, students and officials said.

The debate over the scheme began shortly after it was discovered by the communication studies department, which monitored enrollments in high-demand, already-full classes.

One senior unknowingly undermined the students` argument by explaining why he had illegally registered for all six of his courses: ``Once you do it two or three times, what`s the difference? If you`re in a candy store and you steal one candy bar, what`s the difference if you steal six? You`re still stealing.``

Baker said graduating seniors had ignored traditional methods, including asking professors for special permission to enroll in a closed course or taking an independent study program to earn the necessary credits.